South Korea’s government aims to sell Woori Finance Holdings Co.’s main banking unit by the end of 2014 after it failed three times to offload its 57 percent stake in the country’s biggest financial group by assets.

Woori Bank, a unit of Woori Finance Holdings Co., aims for a net profit of 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) next year, rising from an estimate of about 1.2 trillion won for this year, as the company projects lower bad- loan provisions in 2011, according to the lender’s chief executive officer Lee Chong Hwi. Woori Bank spokesman Jung Hee Kyung confirmed the CEO’s remarks, which were earlier reported by Yonhap News.